Foot corrective device



Oct. 19, 1943. A. B. SALANDE R 2,332,473

FOOT CORRECTIVE DEVICE Filed Dec; 27. 1940 INVENTOR ABRAHAM 5 SAMA/DERBY I flown Patented Oct. 19, 1943' UNITED MTEN 2 412,332,473"1;;,roo'roonnno'rlvs Davies l-i sfalander, New York,

v 27, 194.0,Seria-l No.'371,872 l Application llecember This inventionrelates to foot corrective de? vices, and more particularly to devicesdesigned to alleviate or rectify deformities of "the toes,

such as bunions, corns, callus'es', h'ammerto'esand the like. I i lDevices of this nature commonly have .th'ejdis 7 Fi .6 is a sidesectionalfviw ofasmaller cor- Q rective device-inposition on'asmalltoef1 V Referring-now to {the illustrations, and moreparticularlytoFigsilthrough 5, lllis a foot corrective device{comprising 'outeran'd innerstrips" II and i2 of substantially equallength," which fare made-.from'asoft', pliable material such-as gree .Of1

tions are so constructed'and arranged that. a 1

minimum of discomfort will be produced inuse,

and that the surrounding parts of-the'foot will be shielded andprotected. I

Another object of my invention is1to provide a device of thecharacterdescribed which shall afford. relief fromlocalizedvpressure and surfacefriction in the region of the aifectedparts'fof the foot and thuspreventsthe occurrence. of second ary focuses of irritation not broughtabout by the affected area itself.

A further object of my invention is to provide, a footcorrectivefdevice'wliich is uniquely de- An additional object of myinvention is to i provide a device of the character described whichshall comprise relatively few and simple parts;

which shall be inexpensive to manufacture and easy to use; and whichshall withal be highly effective for the purposes set forth.

Other objects of this invention will in part be obvious and in parthereinafter pointed out.

The invention accordingly consists in the features of construction,combinations of elements, and arrangement of parts which will beexemplified in the construction hereinafter described, and of which thescope of application will 'be indicated in the claims.

In the accompanying drawing, in whichare shown two of the variouspossible embodiments of this invention, and wherein like numbers referto like parts,

Fig. 1 is a plan view in section of a foot corrective device embodyingmy invention in position on a big toe;

Fig. 2 is a side perspective view of said device;

Fig. 3 is a plan view thereof immediately prior to the final assemblystep;

Figs. 4 and 5 are sectional views taken along the lines 4-4 and 55 ofFig. 3; and

kidskin-.- The grain side of the'stripsll and i2 4. are 'facedroutwardly and tliefiesh or'rougl'i sides contacted andadhesively joined,as with rubber cement, I to- 'form a strap portion 13 having; a I

smooth exterior. The'stripsmay be so arranged that one end l4 'of eachstrip projects a shortdistance beyond the correspondingend'of theotherstrip, as shown in Fig. '3, and the project ing end portions I4 fareadhesively. connected in an overlying lap joiht' 'toprovide a sheath I5for the toei It should be noted that said'sheathisi made longenough'toentirely cover the. toe in order to relieve'the' same from any chafingac -J tion "or pressure whichmmi'ght' otherwise arise 'firectedfif. i

A portion of the contacting surfaces-of the l as sponge rubber.

due to the altered position which the toe. is forcibly caused to assumewhen'adefectsuch'as a hammer toe, overlapping toe, or bunion is corstrips H and I2 maybe left free of adhesive to form a pocket l6 and anentrance slit I! provided adjacent an edge thereof to permit insertionof a sponge rubber pad [8 having feathered edges. The pocket [6 maybepositioned so as to aid in remedying any of various defects and inFigs. 1, 2, 3, and 5 it is so disposed that the pad I8 will lie betweenthe big toe and theisecond; toe to thereby aid in straightening the bigtoe'and re,- lieving the bunion. p

.Depending from the strips l I and I2 are a pair of adhesively joinedears I9 and 20 of similar shape which support between them an aperturedoval pad 2| of resilient, flexible material, such The -pad is closelycontacted by the material comprising theears I9 and 28 so that thecontour of the pad isoutlined on the exterior of the device and thecentral portions of the ears contact each other through the aperture 23in the pad. Said padis specially shaped in accordance with my inventionto uniformly apply suflicient pressure .to correct a pedal deformitywithout causing the presence of spots" in Figs. 1 and 4, and all edgesof the pad are feathered.

It should be noted that the pad is adapted to be disposed over a calluswith the aperture 23 centrally located on the callus, the forwardportion 2| approximately centrally located on the phalange disposedforwardly of the enlarged joint, and the rear pad portion 22approximately centrally located on the phalange disposed rearwardly ofsaid joint. It will thus be seen that due to the configuration of thefoot and shoes an approximately even pressure will be exerted on each ofthe said phalanges which will straighten the same and thus tend toreduce the inflamed bursa around the joint. At the same time pressure onthe bunion will be relieved by the pad and chafing on the top of thebunion will be pre-.

vented by the presence of two. plies of leather over the aperture 23. vc

As the entire portion of the foot up to the tip of the toe is covered bysoft leather, and as no more than, the needful pressure is ever applied,it will be apparent that my novel foot corrective device may be worn insubstantial comfort and with the assurance that in correcting a painfulpedal defect no sores will be caused.

In Fig. 6 I have'shown my'device applied to the correction of a hammerhead on a small toe, it being noted that in principle the device is thesame as that above described for the remedying of a bunion and differstherefrom only in size. In application, however; the position of thesheath and ears are reversed, the ears and pad overlying the-,front andsecond phalanges and the sheath encircling the rear digital phalange.

As various possible embodiments might V be made of the above invention,and as various changes might be made-in the embodiments above set forth,it is to be understood that all matter herein set forth or shown in theaccompanying drawing is to be interpreted as illustrative and not in alimiting sense.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to securebyLetters Patent:

1. A foot corrective device for remedying en-.

largement of the head of the metatarsal bone of the great toe,comprising a pair of plies of porous material, each of said pliesincluding a toe-encircling sheath portion adapted to extend over the tipof said big toe and an integral imperforate ear portion of sufiicientlength to extend substantially behind the head of said metatarsal bone,a sponge rubber pad apertured to receive the enlarged head at the sideof the foot so that 10 portion of said pad lie in front of and portionsbehind said enlarged head, said pad being disposed between said ear plyportions, said ear ply portions covering said aperture on both sides ofsaid pad, and a second pad of sponge rubber disposed between the sheathportions in such position that it will be located between the great toeand the second toe, said second pad and the forward portions of saidfirst pad tapering in thickness forwardly and rearwardly along the axisof said tubular sheath from a point of max imum thickness, the point ofmaximum thickness of said second pad adapted to lie adjacent theforemost phalange of said great toe, and the point of maximum thicknessof said forward por- 25, tion of said first pad adapted to lie adjacentthe reariphalange of said great toe.

2. A foot corrective device for remedying enlargement of :the head ofthe metatarsal bone of the great toe; comprising a pair of plies ofporous- ;materia1,i.each of said plies including a toe-encircling sheathportion adapted to extend over the tipof said big toe'and an integralimperforate ear portion of suflicient length to extend substantiallybehind the head of said metatarsal Z'bone, a sponge rubber pad'aperturedto receive the enlarged head at the side of the foot so that portions ofsaid pad lie in front of and portions behind said enlarged head, saidpad being disposed betweensaidear ply portions, said ear Q'iply'portions covering said aperture on both sides of said pad, and apocket between said sheath ply portions for'receiving a second padadapted to be disposed between the big toe and the second toe.

3 ABRAHAM B. SALANDER.

